How Taylor Swift Went Platinum In Spite Of Industry Slump

Taylor Swift's first foray into pop music, "1989," reached the million mark in one week despite a dismal year in the music industry.

By Erik Shute | November 5, 2014

There are 1.287 million reasons why Taylor Swift's inaugural pop album is a success.

Nielsen SoundScan numbers out Wednesday show the Grammy-winning artist's new album "1989" is platinum after one week of sales. The sales aren't just impressive for Tay but also downright shocking after a dismal year in the music industry. (Video via Big Machine Records, LLC / Taylor Swift)

"Just how big is that?" says the Los Angeles Times. "'1989' sold more copies than last week's 70 biggest-selling albums combined."

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And from NPR: "You could call it a miracle. So far in 2014, only one album has sold more than a million copies: the soundtrack to the movie Frozen."

So what led to such a massive release?

Taylor Swift's social media campaigns encouraged fans to go out and buy a copy on iTunes or even a physical CD. She connected with more fans personally and inspired the #taylurking hashtag with her strategy of following fans on social media.

Even though Taylor's loyal fans have brought the artist to platinum status again, Money thinks Swift's fighting a "losing battle," claiming her boycott can't last forever. An entertainment analyst told the magazine, "If you say 'hey I don't want to be on streaming because I sort of object to the way it tastes,' you're kind of ignoring where the whole audience is."

A report out this week shows Spotify's payouts reward artists more than iTunes does in some sectors. In Europe, Spotify's royalty payments have Kobalt Music Group artists earning 13 percent more than they do from Apple.

As for Taylor's new album, we'll likely hear more about it a year from now. "1989" missed the Sept. 30 cutoff for the Grammys this year, but analysts and fans expect the platinum album to receive a few nods in 2016.